Under the Weather
by PandaWhiskers
Summary: Virgil is feeling a little under the weather. Good thing he always has Richie by his side.
1. Chapter 1

_Under the Weather_

* * *

><p>I'm not really sure if there are many who follow this fandom anymore, but I just had to write something for my favorite superhero. :)<p>

**I do not in any shape or form own Static Shock, it belongs to Warner Bros and DC Comics entirely. This is purely fan made and I do not gain anything from it. I just enjoy writing obsessively about my favorite fandoms. :)**

* * *

><p>"V... hellooo... earth to Virgil!"<p>

Virgil's eyes snapped open at the sudden familiar voice as he simultaniously sat up straight in his seat, nearly losing balance and falling out of it in the process.

"Wh, whao, I'm awake!" He slurred in a grungy voice, swollen with sleep deprivation.

"You alright V? You've been stone cold passed out the past 10 minutes. I've tried to wake you up like 3 times!" Richie asked his best and closest friend, worry evident in his eyes.

"I fell asleep..?" He asked through a yawn, as he scouted the area and quickly realized he was still in school. Study Hall, to be exact, so at least he hadn't missed anything important. After his lion-eske yawn was complete, he finished it off with a few exagerated smacks of the lips and slouched in the seat once again.

"You've been in and out of consciousness since we got to school. You're so lathargic.. what's goin on bro?"

Now that Virgil thought about it, he was feeling a little grey around the gills. And the whole day had seemed to pass by like a blur, he had been so out of it. He didn't even remember waking up that morning, and he'd been nearly done with all his classes for the day.

"Mmh.. feelin a little under the weather, Rich. No need to worry. Jus' need a little bit of sleep, that's all." He mumbled, shrugging it off. Though he knew something was a little off. Maybe coming down with a cold, or the flu, perhaps. No biggie. He'd been through much worse than a simple illness.

Richie watched his friend for a moment, not sure what to say. His thoughts, however, never stopped, and right now he was thinking of infinite things that could be wrong with his friend, and it was driving him nuts.

* * *

><p>Daily patrol around the city went just the same. Virgil was somewhere else, lost in a fog it seemed, as they flew about checking for any medihuman mayhem below.<p>

"Hey Static, whatdaya say we take a quick break? You look like you're gonna drop dead any second now.." Richie suggested, keeping a closer eye on Virgil than he was the city.

"Wha? Nah, I'm fine." He replied, finally snapping back to reality. "I was just-"

A loud crash interrupted him, and they both saw a large puff of smoke invading the clear sky up ahead. Backpack went off on que, sending Gear the coordinates.

"Looks like break time is over." Static dismissed as they both rushed to the scene.

As per usual, Hotstreak was having a temper tantrum and throwing things around, causing fires and explosions and scaring civilians. This time outside a Burger Fools.

"What is it this time hothead!? Someone not get your order right?" Static teased, as he usually had a habit of doing when Hotstreak was mad.

"As a matter of fact, they did! I'm ALLERGIC to pickles! And I made that perfectly clear when I ORDERED!" He howled, wasting no time in trying to torch the two heroes. Both dodging with ease.

"Someone must be on their man period today." Static added, zapping a nearby vending machine and hurling it towards the heated man. In a fit of anger he sent an enormous fire blast against it, melting it just as it was about to make contact.

"Shut up Sparky, I'm allowed to voice my opinion whenever I damn well please to these chuckleheads!" He yelled back, launching himself at Static. Normally when in good shape, he would be able to dodge, but today was not a good day for this, and Hotstreak tackled him right off his disk, sending them both to the ground.

Back first, Virgil struck the ground, with the force of another body on top. His head smacked against the ground with a force that made everything go blurry. The wind was knocked right out of him, and he struggled to stay conscious for a moment.

"Static!" He heard Gear call to him, sounding much farther than where was. A moment later he felt something knock the extra body off of him, relieving his pain a great deal. But his body was still in so much pain, aching and burning, he could barely move. His eyes fluttered for a moment, revealing Gear running to his side. Only for a moment, and before Gear could reach him, he slipped into darkness.

* * *

><p>He was only just aware he was floating. Just floating, in a calm, soothing darkness. There were echoes here and there, a voice very familiar to him, but he couldn't make out what it was saying.<p>

"V..." it echoed again, and he began to remember he had a body. And soon after, a great deal of pain and confusion pulled him down from his short solace.

"Virgil, please wake up..."

He groaned, lolling his head for a moment as he came to. His eyes slowly rolling open and burning in his skull as soon as they did, and he groaned again.

"V! Thank god.. I'm right here, okay? Focus bro, you can do it." Richie's voice broke through his haze, thick with worry and desperation. His vision began to come back, and the first thing he saw was the face of his best friend sitting next to him, holding something to his head. The room was spinning.

"Richie... what happened...?" He asked weakly, realizing a cool sensation relieving the feirce ache in his head.

"Hotstreak nearly gave you a concussion when he took you down like that. You hit your head pretty hard. I think there was more to what was going on, he couldn't have been that angry over a burger.. But that doesn't matter right now, what matters is that you have a blistering fever of 101 and you're not going anywhere until we bring it down." Richie stated softly, dragging the cool cloth down Virgil's heated features.

He closed his eyes again, giving in to the wonderful feeling of being taken care of. Normally he would protest to any one else, but this was Richie. He trusted him with everything. And he was too weak to fight about it right now. He hurt too much to even want to. He felt as if he'd been smashed in between two brick walls. Repeatedly. And he would not disagree that he needed some down time.

"Richie... Thank you..." He managed to murmur through half consciousness. He was trying so hard to stay awake, stay alert. He wanted to be with his best friend in that moment, he knew how worried he was, but sleep was quickly overtaking him despite his efforts.

"Don't worry V, I've got you..." Was the last thing he remembered hearing before fading back into darkness.

* * *

><p>Richie watched his best friend as he rested. Every rise and fall of his chest, every inconsistant movement, every small noise or mumble that escaped his sleeping lips. For a long time, Virgil had protected him. Through everything. School, bang babies, freak accidents, family problems. He'd always been there for him, whether he was Virgil or Static. Now it was Richie's turn to protect him.<p>

He'd never seen Virgil at such a vulnerable state, and he would make sure nothing would harm him while he was weak. He had backpack on the lookout for anything suspicious, just in case. There was only an old couch he could lay him on in the Abandoned Gas Station of Solitude, so he made sure he had pleanty of blankets and pillows to make sure V was comfy. He seemed content, completely passed out, not a care in the world, at that moment at least. He was glad he could give him that. Since Static had come around, Virgil had had the weight of the world on his shoulders, and he knew it affected him every day, even if he was good at hiding it. With that charming smile, and a cheesy joke always on hand. But Richie was smarter than that, he could see through the mask. How his eyes were always so tired.

Still his smile never faultered.

Yes, he deserved this. Just some time to rest and not worry about anything. It was Richie's turn to be the hero.

* * *

><p>Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed! :) I'd love to know what you thought of it, and if you'd like to see me write more for Static Shock.<p>

This may be continued possibly. What do you think? Any suggestions?


	2. Chapter 2

WOW, I apologize for taking so long with this! But I'm finally back, and I have read and appreciate all of your lovely reviews. :) And as a thank you, even if it took me 6 months to get it finished, I present to you a continued chapter of Under the Weather! Yaaaay!

Again, I apologize for taking so long. I've just been going through a lot, and, well I won't bore you with details. Let's just say I have casual bouts of terrible anxiety and depression and it's been really been getting to me lately.

Anyway, I'm positive there will be another, if not more, chapters to this. It's definitely not finished, so if anyone is still following this fic expect more to come. :) Hopefully they won't all take 6 months to upload, lol.

Anyway, thank you all for your patience, and I hope you enjoy!

* * *

><p>Richie jolted awake at the startling sound of a throat wrenching bout of coughs and immediately found the source to be Virgil, who was now sitting up. He quickly wrapped his arm around his friend's back and patted it lightly.<p>

"You alright V?" He asked softly.

Virgil groaned at the pain coursing through his entire body and sniffled, slowly lifting his hands to his pounding head. "Like a million bucks..." He muttered sarcastically.

Richie chuckled lightly and rubbed his back soothingly. "You, uh, had me worried there for a little while."

Virgil looked at his best friend with tired, apologetic eyes. "I'm sorry, man... I didn't know it was gonna be this bad."

Richie smiled and shook his head. "Don't even worry about it bro. Me and Backpack had you covered. We made sure nothing happened while you were out of it."

Virgil smiled. He didn't really remember much after... Hotstreak!

"Wait, what happened with-"

"Hotstreak? All taken care of. After he knocked you flat on your ass I zap-capped 'im and police took him into custody." Richie smirked in a triumphant manner, having taken their recent foe down so quick and easily.

Virgil smirked back, furrowing his brows. "Yeah, you were lucky I was distracting him so well or you could've never done it without me."

Richie feigned offence, lifting a hand to his heart as if hurt by the statement. "My good sir, are you inquiring that you're better than me?"

His smirk thickening, Virgil opened his mouth to retort when he was interupted by another bout of coughs. He winced and held his sore throat.

Richie frowned, leaving momentarily to fetch his friend some water. He handed him the glass with a worried look on his face. Virgil thanked him and took a few short sips. It soothed his burning esophagus, but still hurt as it slid down the swollen organ.

"Virgil, how long have you been hiding this illness? There's no way you could get this sick in just one day..." Richie demanded softly.

Virgil frowned, lowering his gaze. "I... I didn't mean to hide it... I just thought it would go away in a couple days, like it always did. But, that didn't happen. I just kept feeling worse and worse. I guess I just never took it seriously enough to mention it to anyone. I've never felt this sick before... Not since... well, before Moms..."

Richie frowned sadly, watching his friend for a moment, taking in the dark circles under his eyes, the paler shade his normally dark face had turned, labored breathing...

He placed a gentle hand on his friend's sweaty forehead to see how the fever was doing. Though slightly less hot, he knew he difinitely still had one. Virgil let his eyes slide closed as the touch of cooler skin soothed him, leaning into it as the hand slid to his flushed cheek. He nearly toppled over when the hand was suddenly removed, and Richie quickly steadied his friend.

Virgil looked up at Richie helplessly as he and the rest of the room slowly began to spin, disorienting him. Richie smiled soflty, reassuringly at him and helped him lay back down.

"Don't worry, V. Just take it easy, I'll take care of you. Just get some more rest and we'll see how you feel tomorrow, okay?" Before Virgil could say anything, he got up and grabbed a bowl of cold water and a clean cloth, laying it across his still burning forehead after wringing some water out.

Virgil sighed softly, letting his eyes slide shut again. The cold dampness of the cloth felt amazing, and he felt himself already starting to drift off again. He strained to open his eyes one more time, finding Richie still sitting next to him like when he'd first woken up, smiling softly at him, worry hiding behind his gentle eyes.

He smiled back weakly. "You're the best, Rich." And with that, he quickly found himself slipping into the peaceful nothingness of sleep.

* * *

><p>I really hope it was worth the wait for you guys! It was intended to be cute and fluffy, not really slash or anything. Let me know what you think and which route I should take this! Would you prefer<strong> bromance<strong> or **romance**? ;)

Thanks again for reading, and reviews are always welcomed and appreciated! This time around I promise not to take forever, lol.


End file.
